Marlins Third Base Competition Opens Up with Ugly Graham Pauley News
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Spring training is underway, and teams are beginning to know what the lineup might look like. However, there are plenty of positional battles taking place across the league. One of those battles is for the starting third base job for the Miami Marlins. Both Graham Pauley and Connor Norby are pursuing that role.
Pauley and Norby both have a lot of potential. Pauley is a little more versatile in the field, but he can hold his own at third base. However, the 25-year-old has not made an appearance in spring training for the Marlins.
This is because of tightness in his right forearm. That is not an easy injury to navigate, and a more severe underlying problem could keep Pauley out for an extended period of time. Because of this, manager Clayton McCullough is not taking any chances.
"At this point, [we] haven't got the results back of that imaging, so we'll just have to wait and see how that goes before the next steps will be with him. He's going to be shut down from baseball until we get a clearer picture on what's happening," McCullough told Christina De Nicola of MLB.com.
Graham Pauley's Injury Shuts Down Third Base Competition
Pauley was much better in the second half of the year in 2025. After the All-Star break, the infielder slashed .250/.367/.464 with four home runs, six RBI and 14 walks to 15 strikeouts. His numbers post All-Star break were enough to make him the favorite for the starting third base job heading into 2026.
With his injury, the Marlins will need Norby to become the player they traded for. In 88 games last season, Norby slashed .251/.300/.389 with eight home runs, 34 RBI, 18 walks to 90 strikeouts and an OPS+ of 90 (well below the Major League average).
Defensively, Norby finished with a minus-4 Outs Above Average and -2% success rate added. The third baseman has not been nearly as good as Pauley when it comes to fielding the hot corner. But he is going to have plenty of time to get better in spring training.
With Pauley missing an undetermined amount of time, Norby does not have much of a competition at third base. With this being the case, Miami needs the 25-year-old to take a huge step forward in spring training and prove he is worthy of the starting job.
Should Pauley miss an extended period of time, the Marlins are going to have no choice but to start Norby at third base in 2026.
Cameron Zunkel is a sports writer from the western suburbs of Chicago. He played Division-II baseball at the University of Illinois at Springfield where he earned a masters degree in Communication. Cameron also played independent league baseball for the Joliet Slammers and Schaumburg Boomers of the Frontier League. He has been in journalism since 2022 and has a passion for baseball specifically, but he enjoys all sports. His other work includes writing sports betting articles for ClutchPoints. In his free time, you can catch Cam at the gym, on the golf course, or coaching the youth in the beautiful sport of baseball.